Barrier-cut-out switch.



I. C. PHELPS.

BARRIER CUT-OUT SWITCH.

APPLICATION FILED NOV. 19. 1915.

1,224,409. Patented May1,1917.

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J. C. PHELPS.

BARRIER CUT-OUT SWITCH.

APPLICATION FILED NOV. 19. 1915.

1,224,409. Patented May1,1917.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE:

JAMES C. PHELPS, OF SPRINGFIELD, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGN'OIR, OF ONE-HALF TO HENRY H. CURTIS, SPRINGFIELD, MASSACHUSETTS.

. BARRIER-CUT-OUT SWITCH.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May 1, 1911'.

Application filed November 19, 1915. Serial No. 62,326. 1

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, JAMES C. PHELPS, a citizen of the United States of America, residing inthe city of Springfield, county of Hampden, and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Barrier-Cut-Out Switches, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to improvements in electrical devices, and, more particularly it relates to improvements in sectional fuseblocks or units in which a series of such blocks are designed to be placed side by side in contactin relation and located within a suitable incTosing casing to which they are attached. These blocks are for forming electrical connections between the main feed wires and any suitable number of branch .circuits. Broadly considered, my invention elevated barrier or upturned end portions that project above the main body portion of the block for a considerable distance. These blocks, when arranged side by side within a suitable inclosing casing, the width of which is greater than the length of the blocks, provide a gutter 0r channel-way between the barrier ends of the blocks and the up-turned ends of the usual inclosing casing. This channel-way is designed for receiving the branch wires that extend from the ends of the fuse blocks to the various circuits.

In my invention a suitable switch is designed to be attached to the outer sides of the barrier end portions, the push buttons or operating device of the switch projecting or passing inward through lateral openings in the barriers, whereby the operator can control any branch circuit by means of the individual switches. In building up the panel or cut-out box by arranging a series ofsaid blocks or units side by side, it is often desirable to have readily accessible devices for cutting in or out a certain branch circuit without disturbing any of the other branch circuits. In my invention one or more of the individual fuse-blocks to which a switch is connected, may be readily in serted in the panel box when the same is built up or constructed and wherever convenience demands such a construction of panel. A complete panel may, of course, be built up of such units.

Heretofore, it has been the common practice to place the cut-outs or switches on that part of the fuse block adjacent the fuseplug and on the upper side of the block, as shown in the U. S. patents granted to J. H. Trumbull, May 8, 1906, No. 820,076 and T. W. Jardine, Mar. 24, 19 03, No. 723,607. In my invention the switches or cut-outs are located entirely on the outside of the barrier end portions, and not within, as in the prior constructions with which I am familiar Referring to the drawings:

Figure l is a top plan view showing the completed panel or box in which a series of fuse-blocks are arranged side by side and spaced away from the sides of the box to form a channel or gutter portion between the ends of the blocks and the upturned ends of the inclosing casing for receiving the branch wires, also showing the switches attached to the outer ends of the blocks;

Fig. 2 is a transverse sectional View of one of the blocks, the section being taken on a plane represented by the line 2-2 of Fig. 1, looking in the direction of the arrows. This 'viewillustrates the recessed channels in the barriers or end portions of the blocks and with the push buttons projecting through lateral openings in the channels;

Fig. 3 is a vertical sectional View on the line 33 of Fig. 1 looking in the direction of the arrows and showing one of the fuse plug sockets, a bus-bar, a switch secured to the outer end of the barrier portions of the block and a push button extending through a lateral opening in the elevated barrier portion.

Referring to the drawings in detail: 1 indicates the main inclosing casing of suitable material, as sheet steel, having upturned edge portion 2. The main and branch wires are indicated at 3 and l. The panel is built up with the series of fuse bloclis indicated at 5 and with end blocks indicated at 6.

The branch wires 4 are located in the channel between the ends of the fuse blocks and the upturned sides 2 of the casing. The end portions of eachof the blocks are extended or elevated so as to provide a sufficient channel for the branch wires 4, the elevated portions being clearly indicated at 7 These portions are formed with'curved or grooved channels 8 for the purpose of reducing the thickness at these points. Extending upward from the bottom of the fuse blocks are grooves 9. These two grooves, 8 and 9, are of such a depth that when the fuse blocks are molded the bottoms of the grooves will intersect or overlap, thus forming the lateral openings 10.

Secured to the outer and upper sides of the elevated barrier portions 7 are switch boxes 11. These switches are commonly known in the market as push button snap switches having the two push buttons 12 and 13. These pushbuttons project through the openings 10 to the inside of the barrier portions 7, as shown, one being designed to open the branch circuit and the other to close it, the circuits to the branch wires be- 7 ing indicated at 13 and 145 which extend to the fuse sockets 15, in which the usual fuse plugsare screwed.

Fig. 3 illustrates the interior construction of a snap-switch the detail construction of which does not form any part of the present invention. 16 indicates the screws for attaching the switch boxes 11 to the barrier portions 7, the inner ends of these screws entering the upper ends of the grooves 9 and engaging the usual plates 17, whereby the switch boxes 11 are attached to the barrier portions of the fuse blocks. Particular attention should be directedto the manner in which the grooves 8 and 9 are formed since the fuse-blocks are formed by molding the soft material, as porcelain, when in a plasticstate. These dies or molds having oppositely traveling members will permit the ready withdrawal ofthe molds from each other, whereby the grooves 8 and 9 can i be simultaneously formed when the other portions of the block are formed. The depth of the grooves 8 and 9, as stated, being such that they will intersect, as shown by the dotted lines 8 and 9, thereby forming the lateral openings 10 through which the push buttons'12 and 13 extend. It should be noticed that these barriers are of sufiicient height to permit the branch wireset 'to pass under the boxes 11 without interfering with each other. The recesses 18 in which the screws 16 are located are also formed at the same time by the dies when the other parts of the block are formed. The usual bus-bar separating rib is indicated at 19 and one of the bus-bars at 20. These bars are connected to the bars or conducting strips 21' which extendupward into the openings22 where they are attached to the bus-bars at one end and to the fuse socket 15 at the other, as indicated at 23.

' It will be seenfrom this description that I have produced a fuse or unit block having cut-out devices attached thereto and one that can be readily installed in a built up panel construction, or, in other words, the invention relates to 'the combination with the elevated end barrier portion of the fuse blocks and the switch secured to the outer upward edge thereof the push buttons of which extend through openings in this barrier portion, whereby individual branch circuitsmay be opened and closed without disturbing any of the wiring or usual construction.

It is clearly within the scope of my invention to employ a single push or rotary button switch instead of the double push button switch herein shown.

An important feature of m invention is that by locating the switches or the branch circuits on the outer side of the barrier portions the fuse unit blocks are very much shorter than the blocks now in use, thereby savmg cost of construction.

What I claim is:

1. A unit fuse-block having elevated end barrier portions extending to meet the cover of the box a considerable distance above the main portion of the block, the barrier portions being formed with grooves extending in opposite directions from the top and bottom edges of the barrier portion and of such a depth that they overlap to form lateral openings through said barrier portions, and a push button switch secured to the outer side of the barrier ortions, with the push buttons of the switch extendin through the lateral openings, as describei g 2. A unit fuse-block having elevated end barrier portions with grooves in said ortions which extend in opposite directions through the barriers, a push button switch,

the push buttons of which are located in the openings, whereby branch circuits may be opened and closed by said buttons, as described.

3. An electrical device of the kind described, comprising in combination, a fuse block formed with openings in the end ofthe block, a switch secured to the outer end of said block, the operating device of the switch passing through the openings in the ends of said block as described, bus-bars secured to the block and electrical connections between the switch and said bars.

4. The combination with a fuse-block having an elevated end barrier portion of a switch device connected to the outer end of said barrier portion, with means for operating said switch device from the inner side of the barrier portion, a bus-bar and electrical connections between the switch and bus-bar.

5. The combination with a fuse-block unit having an elevated end barrier por-' tion, of a switch device mounted on the tion having openings therethrough to receive the operating devices of the switch, a bus-bar, and electrical connections between the switch andbar.

6. A unit fuse-block having elevated end barrier portions formed with 'lateral openings therethrough, a switch secured to the outer sides of said portions, the operating devices of the switch extending through said openings, whereby branch circuits may be opened and closed.

' JAMES C. PHELPS. 

